Dispensing apparatus with hopper



Sept. 12, 1961 MAST 2,999,617

DISPENSING APPARATUS WITH HOPPER Filed May 26, 1959 INVENTOR A. D. MAST B; MW

ATTORNEYS 2,999,617 DISPENSDIG APPARATUS WITH HOPPER Aquila D. Mast, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Daflin Manufacturing Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 26, 1959, Ser. No. 815,997 1 Claim. (Cl. 222--504) This invention relates to dispensing apparatus with hopper, and more particularly to devices having continuously operating power sources which are selectively rendered effective for control operations.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved type of control for use in selectively displacing a movable member.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved control for the selective closing and opening of a discharge opening.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a simple automatic control for a device such as a dispensing or bagging machine.

Briefly, in achieving its objectives, the invention contemplates the provision of a continuously operating power supply, to which is frictionally coupled a manually controlled member which is itself connected to the member which is to be displaced. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the powertransmit-ting member is a flexible member, such as a belt, which is looped around a friction drive wheel and is provided with a free or slack end which is grasped by an operator, so that the operator can control the force with which the belt is urged against the wheel.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description, in which will be found other objects and features of the invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bagging machine provided with a control in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a left hand view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

The bagging machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a hopper which accommodates the material to be bagged. Adjacent the bottom of hopper 10 is provided a dispensing hood 12 which is connected with the interior 14 of hopper 10 via an opening 16.

The hood 12 is inclined downwardly and includes a vertically depending portion 18, the lower extremity 20 of which is designed to detachably accommodate a bag 22 or the like.

Intermediate its uppermost and lowermost extremities, the dispensing hood 12 is provided with a gate 24 which is a slidable member or control which selectively controls discharge of material from the hopper 10 into the bag 22. In other words, the gate 24 is a movable member, the displacement of which controls selectively the opening and closing of a discharge opening.

In FIG. 1, gate 24 is displaceable or slidable to the position 24' indicated by chain lines. Gate 24 is, however, normally maintained in closed position by operation of a spring 26, one extremity of which is connected to a frame 28 which is rigid with hopper 10, the other end of the spring being connected to a rod 30 which is rigid with the gate 24.

On the hood 12 or on some other fixed member is mounted a bracket 32, and mounted on the bracket 32 is a freely rotatable pulley wheel 34. Pulley wheel 34, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, has a plane of rotation parallel to the plane of the gate 24. Fixedly mounted on the frame 28 is a second pulley wheel 36 which is also mounted so as to be freely rotatable. As will be hereinafter indicated, pulley wheels 34 and 36 2,999,617 Patented Sept. 12,, 1961 cooperatively provide a guide means for guiding aflexible member between a power source and said gate 24.

The flexible member is constituted, for example, by a belt 38. The belt 38.may be of any standard material, such as leather, plastic, rubber, canvas and so forth. Alternatively, any flexible member of suitable strength may be employed, such as a chain or the like. Hereinafter, however, the flexible member 38 may be identified as a belt, but this identification is not intended to restrict the invention to the use of a belt in the limited sense of this term.

Belt 38 is looped around pulley wheel 34, and thence runs along the gate 24. By means of an end portion 40, belt 38 is connected to gate 24' at the lower extremity of the latter. This connection may be effected by means of bolts, clamps, cement and the like, or in fact by any conventional means.

Mounted on a frame member 42 in spaced relationship to the pulley 36 is a friction drive wheel 44 which constitutes for the apparatus a source of rotary power. Wheel 44 is fixed relative to the hopper 10 and pulley 36 and is provided with a peripheral groove 46 which is adapted to accommodate the belt 38. Wheel 44 is keyed to an axle or shaft 48, driven by a motor (not shown). The .belt 38 is confined in the groove 46 by means of an adjustable threaded bolt 50 mounted on frame member 42 and supporting the shoe 52. Normally, the bolt 50 is adjusted so that the belt 38 is held loosely in the groove 46, and is not driven by the friction Wheel 44.

Belt 38' includes a free or slack end portion 54. This free or slack end portion constitutes a manual control, as will be indicated in greater detail hereinafter. This end portion 54 is accommodated in -a hollow tube or guide 56 which permits the said end portion 54 a free axial movement therethrough' It will be noted that said end portion 54 includes an extremity 58 to which'a manual tensile force can be applied in the direction of arrow 69.

Guide member 56 and pulley wheel 36 cooperatively accommodate the belt 38, or at least the end portion 54 thereof, so that this flexible member is adapted for engagement with the friction drive wheel 44 over at least about one half of the periphery of the latter. The peripheral percentage by which wheel 44 is engaged can be varied to suit the circumstances.

In operation, spring 26 maintains gate 24 normally closed, and friction drive wheel 44 is maintained in continuous operation. At this stage of the operation, the flexible member engages friction drive wheel 44 with insufficient force to cause any movement of the belt 38. During this stage of the operation, a bag 22 may be applied to the extremity 20 of dispensing hood 12.

When bag 22 is in position to receive a charge from the interior 14 of hopper 19, the operator grasps extremity 58 of the flexible member in his hand and applies a tensile force thereto in the direction indicated by arrow 60. The result is that free or slack end portion 54 is urged radially against friction drive wheel 44, so that an operative frictional drive is created therebetween. As a consequence thereof, belt 38 is moved in the direction of arrow 62, and gate 24 is moved in the direction of arrow 64 to position 24'. The gate is thereby opened and material is discharged from the interior 14 of hopper 10 into bag 22, following the direction indicated by arrow 66.

It will be observed that gate 24 must be displaced by virtually its entire length in order to provide an effective opening for the discharge of the material in hopper 10. To achieve such a displacement, it is necessary to con-' nect belt 38 to the lowermost portion of the gate 24, as has been indicated above. This requires that the belt 38 be inserted from outside of the hood 12 to the interior 3- thereof, .whereat ittengagesv gate24. For purpose, there is provided in the hood 12 an opening 68.

While only one spring 26 has been referred to above, in .actualpractice it is preferred that two springs 26a and 2512 be employed,- as indicated in- FIG. 2. This provides .an even balance of the gateldinits .opening and closing movements, and avoids the jamming of the. same in guides which may be providedtherefor.

It is noted that, although the invention has been illustrated in connection with a bagging machine, the invention is equally as applicable to any type of situation requiring' the selective displacement of amovablemember by the use of a continuously operating friction drive or power source.

From the above description, it will be appreciated that the invention provides a manual control which is readily rendered eifective by an operator, such that an extremely small force applied by an operator controls :theapplication to a flexible belt or thetlilce of a comparatively large force provided by a power supply.

There will now be obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications and variations of the structure set forth above. These modifications and variations will not, however, depart from the scope oft-he invention, as defined in the following claim.

What is claimed is:

Dispensing apparatus comprising a hopper, a chute communicating with said hopper at the bottom and side thereof, a gate slidably mounted on said chute for movement between closed and open positions to control flow of material through said chute, resilient means for urging said gate to closed position, a freely rotatable pulley, an elongated flexible member trained over said pulley and having one end securedto said gate, a second freely rotatable pulley engaging said flexible member, a continuously rotating grooved friction drive'pulley, a tubular guide, said flexible member being trained over said drive pulley and extending through said guide andterrninating in a free end, said second pulley and said guide being so related and disposed as to maintain said flexible member in frictional engagement with at least one-half the periphery of said drive pulley when a pull is exerted on said'flexible member and means-to retain said flexible member in said groove, whereby upon exerting a pull on said flexible member, said flexible member will rictionally engage said drive pulley with sufiicient pressure to cause said drive pulley to move said flexible member to open said gate and upon release of said flexible member to irictionally disengage said flexible member from said drive pulley said gate will be returned to said closed position by said resilient means.

References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS 

